278.990 Penalties. (1) Any officer, agent, or employee of a utility, as defined in KRS 278.010, and any other person who willfully violates any of the provisions of this chapter or any regulation promulgated pursuant to this chapter, or fails to obey any order of the commission from which all rights of appeal have been exhausted, or who procures, aids, or abets a violation by any utility, shall be subject to either a civil penalty to be assessed by the commission not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) for each offense or a criminal penalty of imprisonment for not more than six (6) months, or both. If any utility willfully violates any of the provisions of this chapter or any regulation promulgated pursuant to this chapter, or does any act therein prohibited, or fails to perform any duty imposed upon it under those sections for which no penalty has been provided by law, or fails to obey any order of the commission from which all rights of appeal have been exhausted, the utility shall be subject to a civil penalty to be assessed by the commission for each offense not less than twenty-five dollars ($25) nor more than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500). Each act, omission, or failure by an officer, agent, or other person acting for or employed by a utility and acting within the scope of his employment shall be deemed to be the act, omission, or failure of the utility. (2) Actions to recover the principal amount due and penalties under this chapter shall be brought in the name of the Commonwealth in the Franklin Circuit Court. Whenever any utility is subject to a penalty under this chapter, the commission shall certify the facts to its counsel, who shall bring an action for recovery of the principal amount due and the penalty. The commission may compromise and dismiss the action on terms approved by the court. The principal amount due shall be paid into the State Treasury and credited to the account of the commission, and all penalties recovered in such actions shall be paid into the State Treasury and credited to the general fund. (3) Any utility that fails to pay an assessment as provided for by KRS 278.130 to 278.150 shall forfeit and pay to the state one thousand dollars ($1,000), and twenty- five dollars ($25) for each day it fails to pay the assessment, and shall not be released thereby from its liability for the assessment. (4) Any utility that issues any securities or evidences of indebtedness, or assumes any obligation or liability in respect to the securities or evidences of indebtedness of any other person, or makes any sale or other disposition of securities or evidences of indebtedness, or the proceeds thereof, for purposes other than the purposes specified in the order of the commission made with respect thereto under KRS 278.300, shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000). (5) Any utility that violates any of the provisions of KRS 278.460 shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars ($100) for each offense. (6) Any company that willfully fails to receive, transport, and deliver oil or gas as required by KRS 278.490 shall, in addition to being liable in damages to the injured person, be fined not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500), and each day of willful failure shall constitute a separate offense. (7) Any telephone company that refuses to make a connection with the exchange or lines of another company for a period of thirty (30) days after being ordered to do so by the commission under subsection (2) of KRS 278.530 shall be fined not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) nor more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), to be recovered by indictment in the Franklin Circuit Court or in the Circuit Court of the county where the company requesting the connection resides or has its chief office in this state. If the company desiring the connection proceeds to make the connection, as permitted by subsection (2) of KRS 278.530, and the company so connected with refuses to receive and transmit the toll messages offered to it by the company making the connection, or refuses to deliver messages from its own lines or exchanges to the lines or exchanges of the company making the connection, the company so refusing shall be fined one hundred dollars ($100) for each day it refuses, to be recovered by indictment in the courts mentioned in the first sentence of this subsection; if it continues so to refuse for a period of six (6) months it shall forfeit its right to do business in this state, and any of its officers, agents, or employees who does or attempts to do any business in this state for it after the expiration of the six (6) months' period shall be fined fifty dollars ($50) for each day he does or attempts to do such business. Effective: July 13, 1990 History: Amended 1990 Ky. Acts ch. 354, sec. 1, effective July 13, 1990. -- Amended 1986 Ky. Acts ch. 300, sec. 4, effective July 15, 1986. -- Amended 1982 Ky. Acts ch. 82, sec. 50, effective July 15, 1982. -- Amended 1978 Ky. Acts ch. 379, sec. 54, effective April 1, 1979. -- Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 308, sec. 47. -- Recodified 1942 Ky. Acts ch. 208, sec. 1, effective October 1, 1942, from Ky. Stat. secs. 786, 842b-2, 2223-2, 3766b-le, 3952-24, 3952-59, 3952-61, 4679f-2, 4679f-4.